Talk about credentials. She's got 'em. A full list of her degrees, titles, achievements and community involvements would consume a page of newsprint. Well, almost. She owns six degrees, including a doctorate in philosophy from Virginia Tech. The final degree, a master of divinity from United Theological Seminary, led Felica Sturgis Williams to Charleston and pastorships at two local churches, Simpson Memorial Methodist on Shrewsbury Street and St. Stephens Methodist in Coal Branch Heights.
She started out in banking, but for much of her education-crowded life, the 55-year-old coal miner's daughter from Glen White directed much of her efforts to programs aimed at helping the disadvantaged in Appalachia, an obvious reflection on her roots.
During 18 years at Bluefield State College, she was a guiding light at the helm of many campus programs, served as campus pastor and pastored at a church. At one point in her academic career, she served as interim president of the New River Community and Technical College.
Impressive enough in its own right, all this, but she did it while masking an inability to hear. Just this year, she finally acquired hearing aids.
Her poem, "The Silent Disability," traces her struggles with hearing loss. Yes, on top of everything else, she's an award-winning poet. Another poem, currently growing into a book, looks at the need for prayer in college.
Today, she's busy using the skills she honed in the business and academic world to foster the growth of her two churches and the people who fill those pews.
" I grew up in Glen White in Raleigh County. My childhood was very good. My father, Sturgis Wooten, passed away in 2007. He was a coal miner, so I'm proud to be a coal miner's daughter. My mom, Lucy Wooten, is still living. I loved animals. I had a rabbit. I helped my dad with the garden, or thought I was helping.
"When I was a kid, I wanted to be an interior designer. I loved doing artistic things, being creative. I'm a Victorian addict. I love exploring old homes.
"Glen White had the black section and the white section, but we all played together. I feel like Glen White is an anomaly. I had friends of both races. Our parents hung out together. We went to the playground together. We didn't have racial problems, just in the fact that our neighborhoods were divided.
"I was a majorette at Park Junior High School and Woodrow Wilson High School and was featured twirler at West Virginia Tech at Montgomery. After high school, we had a squad of black girls and white girls, part of the Golden Stars. I taught them how to twirl baton and we marched in parades and did twirling competitions. I traveled a lot, taking girls to competitions.
"Out of high school, I went straight to Beckley College. I worked and went to school. I had changed to banking and finance. In high school, when I would say I wanted to be something in the realm of an artist, my art teacher would say 'You are a black lady and you are smart, and I think you could excel in business.' I ran into her at an airport, and she was so proud of all that I have accomplished. She was probably thinking her guidance was right.
"There were opportunities for blacks in business. So my first two degrees are in banking and finance and business administration from then-Beckley College.
"One of the things that contributed to my interest in education was, from the time I was preschool age, my brother taught me. He went to Bluefield State to become a teacher, and he was my greatest teacher. Whatever he learned in school, he would come home and teach it me. He stimulated my interest in learning. My family inspired me in different ways, to try different things in life.
"By the time I got to West Virginia Tech, I was still in banking and finance. I started at Raleigh County National Bank and spent a number of years there.
"I had it in the back of my mind that I wanted a Ph.D. I believe that life is for learning. I am still learning I like to learn and experience new things all the time. I began to teach banking and finance at West Virginia Tech and at the satellite in Oak Hill. I had bankers from the area taking classes, working for certification from the American Institute of Banking. I was certified to teach banking courses at the college level. From there, I transitioned to teaching. I taught for the Multi-CAP in Ansted, job readiness and job search classes.
"I gravitated to jobs aimed at improving the quality of life among people in central Appalachia. That was my goal, to work in that regard. One of the ways I worked to do that one was with the West Virginia Community Action Directors Association. I was the education director and coordinated education projects throughout West Virginia. That's when I got my master's from Marshall in adult and technical education with emphasis on technical curriculum and evaluation. At the association, I designed training and curriculum for adults to help them get jobs.
"After my first master's degree, I went to work at Bluefield State College as director of the educational opportunity center. I started on my doctorate at WVU while I worked at Bluefield State.
"I knew about my calling when I was 17, but I'm female, and in the Missionary Baptist Church that I belonged to then, women weren't allowed to preach or pastor. So I ministered in whatever way God opened the door for me to do. Singing in choirs. Teaching Bible study. I didn't have to have a job that paid me as a minister to minister to God's people.
"All the experiences I had on the way to becoming a pastor were doors God wanted me to walk through, to prepare me. Some of it was so I could understand the plight of the people I served. I went through some things myself after I left my parent's house so I could understand what it meant to provide for a family. I worked in venues where I began to understand how poverty influences behaviors.
"Out of business experiences, being president of a corporation, president of a college, I learned skills to be able to advance the church.
"Seminary was my last degree. After I got my Ph.D. in 2000, I went for 10 years without getting another degree. I graduated in 2011 from United Theological Seminary.
"In Bluefield, they needed a pastor at John Stewart United Methodist Church. The district superintendent asked me to go speak there a couple of times. Then she asked me to become the pastor. I was on the ministerial staff at Heart of God in Beckley, which allowed women to minister. I preached and taught there. That's how the southern district superintendent became aware of me.
"I was pastor at John Stewart and campus pastor and a professor in organizational leadership and comparative religions at Bluefield and oversaw the largest grant program at the state all while and going to seminary. Kind of crazy isn't it?
"Simpson Memorial isn't my only church now. I also pastor at St. Stephens at Coal Branch Heights. I also enjoy teaching Bible study class here, and I'm director of diversity and inclusion for the State Conference of the United Methodist Church.
"I didn't realize how big of a disability my hearing was. I tried to cover it up. I went through all those degrees without being able to hear. I don't know if my family was aware of it. My dad was hearing-impaired. Joan Hirt, my dissertation coordinator at Tech, helped me accept that it's OK to admit I have a disability and needed some accommodations in my classes.
"I was accustomed to making my own adaptations in a learning environment. I used tape recorders so I could go back and listen to the lectures again. I used all sorts of coping mechanisms so I could function. It wasn't until this year, after 54 years, that I got hearing aids. I can hear voices, but I can't tell what's being said without my hearing aids. I used to read lips very well. Now I hear birds chirping, cars going by, just little things I never knew other people could hear. I speak slowly so I can enunciate. Maybe it was a blessing that my brother taught me privately at home.
"I wrote a poem about it, 'The Silent Disability,' about 15 years ago. I like to write poetry. I actually won an award for my poetry. I wrote a poetic prayer, 'Litany for the College and the World,' about the need for prayer in the college environment. As campus pastor, I saw a need for ongoing prayer among college students. We need to consider prayer because we are seeing all types of violence on campus and young people experimenting with drugs and sex and alcohol, the whole change in lifestyle when they are no longer under the guidance of mom and dad. There is a need for students to develop a praying spirit, and we also need to pray for the academic climate in college.
"Colleges are a microcosm of society. The things you see happening out in the world you will find on a smaller scale in a college environment. Young people need to learn how to deal with those problems. Prayer is necessary. I'm working on a book about that.
"I feel good about my life. I'm thankful for all the many things I've been able to do. I'm very thankful to be here in Charleston where I can interact with so many people. With the location of this church and St. Stephens, I am able to interact with people from all walks of life.
"I'm very pleased with the opportunity to lead other people to Christ because Christ has been at the center of my whole life."
Reach Sandy Wells at 304-348-5173 or sandyw@wvgazette.com.